A Paige in time

(Author's note: Yeah, this is straight up genealogy again with no witty repartees to accompany it. No one will notice if you wanna bail out.)

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As always, unapologetically unedited.

Please excuse my random formatting issues.

An unexpected ancestor...

What can I say? I think everyone should be able to mark off a few items on Ye Olde Family Tree. You could definitely say I'm old school when it comes to having a genealogical checklist for such things.

You see, I think everyone needs to be on the lookout for one of the following: a Mayflower line, a connection to a Salem Witch, a Revolutionary War patriot (and a Loyalist or two just because), a "Gateway Ancestor," a celebrity worth their weight, or a couple of noteworthy kin along the way. Oh, and one last thing—a Jamestown ancestor. Okay, okay, yes, I know it's dorky, but in my book, having a proven ancestor who was at Jamestown, Virginia, before 1620 is almost as good as having a Mayflower line. I mean, who doesn't want to show that their ancestors arrived here before those sobby ass folks hailing from Plymouth Rock? How cool is that? 

                                                        

Anyway, this week, while working on Paige Dunham's family tree, I stumbled upon a couple of things. The first was the possibility of a Gateway Ancestor (that hasn't panned out yet) and, yes, you guessed it, a Jamestowne line. The line is to Dr. John Woodson, 1586-1644, a surgeon/physician at the earliest of the first New World settlements. Doc Woodson arrived in 1619 on the good ship George, a year before those Saints and Sinners made it to Cape Cod.

Talk about "Project 1619." lol.

His name is listed on the "approved" ancestors list for the Jamestowne Society.

The trick was proving it out. Could I actually connect a line from Paige back to the good doctor? I really wanted to see if I could, at least through initial exploration and then by confirming with reliable published sources. Since it's thirteen generations from the doctor and 1619, this essay is a bit more long-winded than usual (shocker!), but if you're willing to go the distance, let me show you what I found.

We'll start with the basic pedigree line from Dr. John Woodson to Paige Dunham:

Now, the first five generations are oddly the easiest ones. Below are the "first two" generations, those of Dr. John Woodson and his son, Robert "Potato Hole" Woodson.  (Okay, anybody with an ancestor named "Potato Hole" has immediately got my attention.)                            

                          

Next, we have generation three - "Potato Hole's" kid, Benjamin, who married Sarah Porter:   

Generation four - Benjamin's kid John, who married Mary Miller:                          

Generation five - their daughter Ann Woodson, who married Warham Easley:

These first generations are taken from: Henry Morton Woodson's Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their Connections, privately published, Memphis, Tennessee, 1915

Okay, now it will start to get tougher. 

Here are the children of (Nancy) Anne Woodson and Warham Easley:

                          

   

Information as taken from: William Harris Manning, Our Kin, Part I, Walton Printing Co., Augusta, Georgia, 1958

   Generation six - for their son Miller Woodson Easley, who married Mary Lyon

Above image from: Henry, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XF-JCPY?view=explore : Jun 4, 2025), image 81 of 203; Image Group Number: 007578991; Marriage Register, 1778-1849, Henry County, Virginia: Henry. Marriage Records 1778–1849

Generation Seven - and for their daughter Nancy, Easley, who married Robert Parks:

      

Above image: Miller Woodson Easley witnesses his daughter's marriage to Robert Parks. Image as taken from: FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZWX-79C : Mon May 13 21:55:46 UTC 2024), Entry for Robt Parks and Nancy Easely, 22 May 1803; Tennesse County Marriages, 1790-1959

Next Generation Eight - for their daughter Frances Parks, who married Alexander Montgomery:

Above image: Emma Middleton Wells, The history of Roane County, Tennessee, 1801-1870, Lookout Publishing Company, 1927; 273

Generation Nine: Their daughter, Mary Jane Montgomery, who married John Cloud Haley

ibid., page 255

Generation Ten: Their son, George Jerome Haley, and Margaret K. Carter:

                    

 Above: Year: 1880; Census Place: District 12, Roane, Tennessee; Roll: 1275; Page: 369b; Enumeration District: 226        

Generation Eleven: Their son, Raymond Carter Haley, who married Edith May King

Okay, I think this is a good place to stop - with Paige's great-grandfather. While any application to the Jamestowne Society would require additional vital records down to Paige, I think we've pretty much covered the line from her Jamestowne ancestor, Doctor John Woodson. I think it's safe to say that with one Hell of a lot of elbow grease, Paige could easily join this society as by all published sources, she certainly appears to qualify.

                                     

In other words, "the line holds." I don't know if I am supposed to use this image of Paige. It's probably some copyright infringement, so I hope that if I am in the wrong that they will just consider the source of an old man working on family trees. 

I will leave this post with an image of Dr. Woodson's musket. It was used by his wife and a family friend (?) to defend their home against an Indian attack. It was an attack that Dr. Woodson did not survive.

                 

You just never know who you will find amongst Ye Olde Branches.

A Jamestowne ancestor - incredible!

               

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